As we all expected, today Microsoft announced the second generation of Surface tablets: Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2. There are plenty of things we need talk about so I’ll try to wrap up for you and not forget anything. Both tablets are faster, come with an improved battery life and kickstand, but that’s not all.

Surface Pro 2

I’ll start with Surface Pro 2 or as Microsoft likes to say the “true laptop replacement”, which is true knowing what it features inside. The first generation of Surface Pro had an Intel Core i5 Ivy Bridge processor, so it was quite fast at that time.With Surface Pro 2, Microsoft wanted to go even further and put the fourth generation of Intel Core i5 Haswell Processor, which is faster, but the most important thing is that it offers a way better battery life.

But the model exists, the project has long since been launched, and there is no going back. The only way to recover is to get the orders flowing, and the company has decided a lower price tag might make that happen.

There are good news for tech enthusiasts: it appears that Nokia will finally get on board and release at least one Windows 8 tablet this year. And they are not alone, because Microsoft is also planning to release new Surface versions in 2013.

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, spoke to the Australian Financial Review and said that Nokia haven’t announced any tablet yet, but this is something they are looking to very closely.

It appears that Nokia is waiting to see whether or not Surface tablets can make a difference and than decide if they’ll come up with their own tablet(s). Stephen Elop added: “We are studying very closely the market right now as Microsoft has introduced the Surface tablet, so we are trying to learn from that and understand what the right way to participate would be and at what point in time.”

Stephen Elop words show one thing, Nokia has already developed or tested a tablet, but it doesn’t want to rush and release one just like other companies did. It’s a fair choice since hardware components lose their value every month and software updates come also very often.

It’s probably no secret by now that Microsoft has been trying its best to keep down the rumors and Internet chat about their Surface Phone. Whether it actually exists or not is probably lowest on the totem pole now, considering the fact that most techies and bloggers alike believe that the Microsoft Surface phone will definitely debut. It’s just a matter of when and what it will actually look like.

On October 25th the Microsoft Surface tablet will officially launch. It appears to be part of a holiday program that Microsoft is working on to generate more interest in both their phone market and general hardware market all around. There’s word of a $99 Xbox 360 deal that requires a 2 year Xbox live subscription, as well as the new Windows 8 tablets and phones that are set to be launching soon as well.

In theory, if these deals go well, Microsoft will establish themselves as a serious competitor in both the tablet and phone market. If the Surface Tablet is a success, the Surface phone is the next logical step, right?